


But If You Close Your Eyes

by arochilton



Category: Night at the Museum (2006 2009)
Genre: Cheesy and probably unnecessary use of Pompeii lyrics to make everyone cry, Jedtavius angst, M/M, Post-Secret of the Tomb, Second chapter will contain smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 18:25:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3178541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arochilton/pseuds/arochilton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An examination of Jed and Octavius's final goodbye on their last night together as well as their reunion when they wake up for the first time in three years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But If You Close Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this fic since December 20, but school has drawn my attention away from it for a while. Note that this is a very short first chapter, but its main purpose is to serve as a prologue to the next chapter, which will take place during the Treasures of the British Museum exhibit's stay in New York.

_And the walls kept tumbling down_   
_In the city that we love_   
_Great clouds roll over the hills_   
_Bringing darkness from above_

 

Saying goodbye to Larry was, up until that moment, the hardest thing either one of them had ever done.

That is, until they had to say goodbye to each other. 

The two little men watched Larry walk away in silence. His confident nightguard strut was staggering a bit despite how much he was attempting to keep strong. The realization of this made Jed's breath catch in his throat. All those times he had seen the guard so confident and unwavering were crumbling around him. Jed looked down at his boots, trying to simultaneously feel everything at once and yet nothing at all. He owed so much to Larry, he realized.

Without Larry, he and Octavius would still hate each other. There would have been no trip to the Smithsonian, no trip to England. Larry had been a beacon of hope, a symbol of leadership, and a true friend to every exhibit in the museum. Jed knew there was no possible way to repay him for all he had given them.

When Larry finally exited the Hall of Miniatures for the last time, neither Jed nor Octavius spoke for several minutes. The inevitability of the situation seemed to hit both men hard. Silence fell in between them like a curtain until Octavius took the initiative and pulled it back with a simple question. 

"Are you scared?" 

"Of what? Not waking up again?" Jed's voice was steady, but he was biting back emotions that he didn't dare to feel. 

Octavius nodded, his eyes boring into Jed's as if he was afraid to break eye contact. 

"Nah," Jed decided. "It's the way things have to be. Everything will be fine."

Octavius simply stared at him. Jed suspected he wasn't convinced. His stomach jolted, a flood of memories rushing over him. Memories that would not be there come morning, memories he wouldn't even be awake to remember. Years of bickering between walls, hating each other for no reason other than the small differences that separated them. Grasping the Roman in a headlock, wanting nothing but to cause him pain. 

And then came their friendship, sudden but undoubtedly strong. Sorting aside their differences to work with each other, and afterwards spending every single night taking on everything the museum had to offer together. Taking on the world side by side. Octavius saving his life at the Smithsonian. Then the feel of his hand grasping Jed's in London. 

Jed blinked. 

"Can I ask you somethin'?" 

"Of course," Octavius bowed a bit out of politeness. The corner of Jed's mouth twitched. 

"Why did you ask to hold my hand back in London?"

Octavius's face was unreadable, but there was no mistaking the power of the words he spoke. "I couldn't imagine dying without you."

Jed had been suspecting for a while that the centurion had deeper feelings than simple friendship. This was more than friends' loyalty. It was...

"Why did you take my hand, Jedediah?" Octavius asked, his tiny form shaking noticeably. 

Jed sighed heavily, releasing the breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. "'Cause I regretted not takin' it earlier. And if I was goin' to be turned to wax forever, I wanted to be forever in that state with you. Holding onto you."

Octavius swallowed hard. "I'm scared, Jedediah. Not of never waking again, but of never coming to life with you by my side."

Jed took a step closer to him. 

"Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?" Octavius asked, causing Jed to stifle a laugh as he remembered the Roman's constant remarks about Lancelot's eyes in London. 

"You haven't, but don't let that stop you, Toga Boy," Jed teased. His mind was caught in a flurry. They had to say goodbye, and soon. They didn’t have much time until sunrise, but he knew he needed this. He needed Octavius, needed him more than he needed anything in the world, more than he needed a magic tablet to bring them to life each night. As long as he knew, and as long as they both knew, the sunrise would be beautiful. 

Jed closed the gap between them, reaching up to untie Octavius's helmet, which he removed and set on the ground, revealing short locks of tousled black hair cropped to the man’s face. 

And with that, the cowboy was holding the Roman's face in his gloved hands and kissing him. 

Octavius, obviously a bit timid at first, squirmed a bit before his hands flew up to tangle in the long, wavy blond locks surrounding Jed's neck. 

For them, nothing but each other mattered in that moment. Not the sunrise, not the inevitability of the future, not the small differences between them.

"I had to do that, if only once," Jed told him affectionately as he pulled back. 

"I've thought about it every night for so long," Octavius admitted, a blush creeping into his cheeks. His eyes glanced towards the window and it took him a second to find his voice. "Jedediah, it's almost sunrise." 

True, the stars were beginning to fade and light was just creeping on the horizon. It was time. 

"Thank you," Octavius started, his brown eyes wide. “For everything. I do not even wish to think about what would have happened if we had stayed enemies these past few years.”

“It’s in the past, partner,” Jed reminded him.

“I will not say goodbye to you,” Octavius stated firmly, taking a deep breath.

“Wish we had time for one more kitten video,” Jed’s voice was not as strong as it usually was, but he managed a small smile.

“Or one last ride around the museum in our car,” Octavius suggested wistfully.

“It’s for the best,” Jed reminded him, remembering what they had told Larry not too long before. “We’re museum exhibits, it’s our job.”

“Visitors to the museum won’t know our story,” Octavius realized, feeling a flood of anger and insignificance wash over his body.

“Shhh, amigo,” Jed started, his voice barely above a whisper. “ _We’ll_ know.”

It was that same cheesy line Larry had once used to assure General Custer that the Battle of the Smithsonian did indeed matter in the long run. And although Octavius knew that come morning, they would not in fact know, he let those words comfort him.

Jed kissed the Roman again, letting his lips tell the general what he could not say in words. He gave him a small smile and bent down to retrieve Octavius’s helmet.

Octavius tied his helmet and was just about to turn around and head to the Roman exhibit when he delivered a small pecking kiss to Jed’s cheek.

“Thank you, Jedediah.”

Jed attempted to silence his thoughts as he walked back to his exhibit, but his mind was addled with regret. He couldn’t forgive himself for not coming to terms with his feelings sooner, for not acting on them, for not making the most of the time the two shared together.

However, as the sun froze him into oblivion, he found himself wearing a small smile at the memory of Octavius’s lips on his, and he knew that even a short amount of time together had been better than nothing.


End file.
